Dictionary_of_Banking_and_Finance

over bid where the purchasing company offers them in exchange for the shares in the company being bought

wall safe / wɔ l se f/ noun a safe installed in a wall

Wall Street / wɔ l stri t/ noun 1. a street in New York where the Stock Exchange is situated 2. the US financial centre Wall Street analysts predict a rise in interest rates. She writes the Wall Street column in the newspaper.

warehouse / weəhaυs/ noun a large building where goods are stored

warehouse capacity / weəhaυs kə p s ti/ noun the space available in a warehouse

warehousing / weəhaυz ŋ/ noun 1. the act of storing goods in a warehouse

Warehousing costs are rising rapidly.

2. an illegal act where someone buys shares in a company on behalf of another company and holds them in readiness to be surrendered when the second company makes a takeover bid

War Loan / wɔ ləυn/ noun a government loan issued in time of war

warning / wɔ n ŋ/ noun a notice of possible danger Warning notices were put up around the construction site.

warrant / wɒrənt/ noun an official document which allows someone to do something

‘…the rights issue will grant shareholders free warrants to subscribe for further new shares’ [Financial Times]

warrantee / wɒrən ti / noun a person who is given a warranty

warrant holder / wɒrənt həυldə/ noun a person who holds a warrant for shares

warrantor / wɒrən tɔ / noun a person who gives a warranty

warrant premium / wɒrəntpri miəm/ noun a premium paid to buy

share warrants, above the price of the shares it entitles you to

warranty / wɒrənti/ noun 1. a legal document which promises that a machine will work properly or that an item is of good quality The car is sold with a twelve-month warranty. The warranty covers spare parts but not labour costs. 2. a promise in a contract 3. a statement made by an insured person

which declares that the facts stated by him are true

washing / wɒʃ ŋ/ noun US the practice of selling and buying back the same security, so as to reduce tax liability, or to increase trading volume.

bond-washing

wash sale / wɒʃ se l/ noun US the sale and then repurchase of a block of shares (similar to the British ‘bed-and-breakfast deal’, though in the US it may also be used as a means of creating fictitious trading volume)

waste /we st/ noun material left over from a production process which is of no value and is thrown away verb to use more than is needed to waste money or paper or electricity or time The MD does not like people wasting his time with minor details. We turned off all the heating so as not to waste energy.

COMMENT: Industrial waste has no value, as opposed to scrap which may be sold to a scrap dealer.

wasting asset / we st ŋ s t/ noun an asset which becomes gradually less valuable as time goes by (e.g. a short lease on a property)

watchdog / wɒtʃdɒ / noun a person or group that examines public spending or financial deals, etc. the City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which supervises the financial institutions

water down / wɔ tə daυn/ verb to make something less strong The family’s holdings have been watered down by the creation of the new shares.

weak /wi k/ adjective not strong, not active share prices remained weak share prices did not rise

weak currency /wi k k rənsi/ noun a currency which is trading at a low level against other currencies

weaken / wi kən/ verb to become weak the market weakened share prices fell

‘…the Fed started to ease monetary policy months ago as the first stories appeared about weakening demand in manufacturing industry’ [Sunday Times]

weak market /wi k mɑ k t/ noun a share market where prices tend to fall because there are no buyers

weakness / wi knəs/ noun the fact of being weak

‘…indications of weakness in the US economy were contained in figures from the Fed on industrial production’ [Financial Times]

wealth tax / welθ t ks/ noun a tax on money, property or investments owned by a person

web /web/ noun same as World Wide

Web

webpage / webpe d$/ noun a single file of text and graphics, forming part of a website

website / websa t/ noun a position on the web, which is created by a company, organisation or individual, and which anyone can visit How many hits did we have on our website last week?

Wechsel noun the German word for foreign exchange

weight /we t/ noun a measurement of how heavy something is to sell fruit by weight the price is per pound or per kilo of the fruit to give short weight to give less than you should verb to give an extra value to a certain factor

weighted average / we t dv(ə)r d$/ noun an average which is calculated taking several factors into account, giving some more value than others

weighted index / we t d ndeks/ noun an index where some important items are given more value than less important ones

weighting / we t ŋ/ noun additional salary or wages paid to compensate for living in an expensive part of the country The salary is £15,000 plus London weighting.

weight of money / we t əv m ni/ noun a large amount of money ready to be invested on the stock market (especially cash available in pension funds)

wheeler-dealer / wi lə di lə/ noun a person who lives on money from a series of profitable business deals

whisper number / w spə n mbə/ noun a figure which is mentioned as a rumour

whistleblower / w s(ə)l bləυə/ noun a person who reveals dishonest practices

(informal)

white-collar / wa t kɒlə/ adjective referring to office workers

‘…the share of white-collar occupations in total employment rose from 44 per cent to 49 per cent’ [Sydney Morning Herald]

white-collar crime / wa t kɒləkra m/ noun crimes committed by business people or office workers (such as embezzlement, computer fraud or insider dealing)

white-collar job /wa t kɒlə d$ɒb/ noun a job in an office

white-collar union /wa t kɒləju nj ən/ noun a trade union formed of white-collar workers

white-collar worker /wa t kɒləw% kə/ noun a worker in an office, not in a factory

white knight /wa t na t/ noun a person or company which rescues a firm in financial difficulties, especially one which saves a firm from being taken over by an unacceptable purchaser

White Paper /wa t pe pə/ noun a report issued by the UK government as a statement of government policy on a particular problem. Compare Green

Paper

whizz-kid / w z k d/ noun a brilliant young person who quickly becomes successful in business She was a whizz-kid who reached head of department in five years.

whole-life insurance / həυl la f

n ʃυərəns/, whole-life policy / həυlla f pɒl si/ noun an insurance policy where the insured person pays a fixed premium each year and the insurance company pays a sum when he or she dies (also called ‘whole-of-life assurance’)

wholesale / həυlse l/ adjective, adverb referring to the business of buying goods from manufacturers and selling them in large quantities to traders who then sell in smaller quantities to the general public I persuaded him to give us a wholesale discount. he buys wholesale and sells retail he buys goods in bulk at a wholesale discount and then sells in small quantities to the public

wholesale banking / həυlse lb ŋk ŋ/ noun banking services between merchant banks and other financial institutions (as opposed to retail banking)

wholesale dealer / həυlse l di lə/ noun a person who buys in bulk from manufacturers and sells to retailers

wholesale market / həυlse lmɑ k t/ noun an interbank money market, where banks and other financial institutions deal with each other

wholesale price / həυlse l pra s/ noun the price charged to customers who buy goods in large quantities in order to resell them in smaller quantities to others

wholesale price index / həυlse lpra s ndeks/ noun an index showing

the rises and falls of prices of manufactured goods as they leave the factory

wholesaler / həυlse lə/ noun a person who buys goods in bulk from manufacturers and sells them to retailers

wholly-owned subsidiary / həυlli əυnd səb s djəri/ noun a subsidiary

which belongs completely to the parent company

will /w l/ noun a legal document where someone says what should happen to his or her property when he or she dies

He wrote his will in 1984. According to her will, all her property is left to her children.

COMMENT: A will should best be drawn up by a solicitor; it can also be written on a form which can be bought from a stationery shop. To be valid, a will must be dated and witnessed by a third party (i.e. by someone who is not mentioned in the will).

windfall / w ndfɔ l/ noun a sudden winning of money or a sudden profit which is not expected

windfall profit / w ndfɔ l prɒf t/ noun a sudden profit which is not expected

windfall profits tax / w ndfɔ lprɒf ts t ks/, windfall tax / w ndfɔ l

t ks/ noun a special tax on unexpected profits

windfall wealth / w ndfɔ l welθ/ noun wealth which comes from a windfall

winding up / wa nd ŋ p/ noun liquidation, the act of closing a company and selling its assets a compulsory winding up order an order from a court saying that a company must be wound up

windmill / w ndm l/ noun same as accommodation bill (informal)

window / w ndəυ/ noun a short period when something is available or possible

window dressing / w ndəυ dres ŋ/ noun 1. the practice of putting goods on display in a shop window, so that they attract customers 2. the practice of putting on a display to make a business seem better or more profitable or more efficient than it really is

window of opportunity / w ndəυ əv ɒpə tju n ti/ noun a short period

which allows an action to take place

window shopping / w ndəυʃɒp ŋ/ noun the practice of looking at goods in shop windows, without buying anything

wind up / wa nd p/ verb 1. to end a meeting He wound up the meeting with a vote of thanks to the committee.

2. to wind up a company to put a company into liquidation The court ordered the company to be wound up.

WIP abbreviation work in progress

wipe off / wa p ɒf/ verb to remove something completely

wire transfer / wa ə tr nsf% / noun a transfer of money from one account to another by telegraph

witching hour / w tʃ ŋ aυə/ noun a critical moment on a stock exchange, where several options expire at the same time

withdraw /w ð drɔ / verb 1. to take money out of an account to withdraw money from the bank or from your account You can withdraw up to £50 from any cash machine by using your card. 2. to take back an offer When he found out more about the candidate, the HR manager withdrew the offer of a job.When the workers went on strike, the company withdrew its revised pay offer.

(NOTE: withdrawing – withdrew) one of the company’s backers has withdrawn he or she stopped supporting the company financially We expect they will withdraw their takeover bid. The chairman asked him to withdraw the remarks he has made about the finance director.

withdrawal /w ð drɔ əl/ noun the act of removing money from an account

to give seven days’ notice of withdrawalWithdrawals from bank accounts reached a peak in the week before Christmas. withdrawal without penalty at seven days’ notice money can be taken out of a deposit account, without losing any interest, provided that seven days’ notice has been given

withholding tax /w ð həυld ŋ

t ks/ noun US a tax which removes money from interest or dividends before they are paid to the investor (usually applied to non-resident investors)

with-profit bond /w ð prɒf t bɒnd/ noun a bond which guarantees a capital return plus the profits which have accumulated during its lifetime

with profits /w θ prɒf ts/ adverb referring to an insurance policy which guarantees the policyholder a share in the profits of the fund in which the premiums are invested

won /w n/ noun a unit of currency used in North and South Korea

work /w% k/ noun 1. things done using the hands or brain 2. a job, something done to earn money It is not the work itself that the employees are complaining about He goes to work by bus. She never gets home from work before 8 p.m. His work involves a lot of travelling. He is still looking for work. She has been out of work for six months.

‘…the quality of the work environment demanded by employers and employees alike’ [Lloyd’s List]

worker / w% kə/ noun a person who is employed worker representation on the board the fact of having a representative of the workers as a director of the company

worker director / w% kə da rektə/ noun a director of a company who is a representative of the workforce

workforce / w% kfɔ s/ noun the total number of employees in an organisation, industry or country

working / w% k ŋ/ adjective 1. referring to work 2. working control of a company having enough shares in a company to be able to control all its actions (usually, this means 51% of shares)

working capital / w% k ŋ

k p t(ə)l/ noun capital in the form of cash, stocks and debtors (less creditors)

used by a company in its day-to-day operations. Also called circulating

capital, floating capital, net current assets

working conditions / w% k ŋ kən-

d ʃ(ə)nz/ plural noun the general state of the place where people work (e.g. whether it is hot, noisy, dark or dangerous)

working partner / w% k ŋ pɑ tnə/ noun a partner who works in a partnership

working-time directive / w% k ŋ

ta m da rekt v/ noun a directive concerning the maximum number of hours an employee can work in the EU

working underwriter / w% k ŋ

ndəra tə/ noun a member of a Lloyd’s syndicate who actively generates business (as opposed to the ‘names’ who put up the security)

working week / w% k ŋ wi k/ noun the usual number of hours worked per week Even though he is a freelance, he works a normal working week.

work in progress / w% k nprəυ res/ noun the value of goods be-

ing manufactured which are not complete at the end of an accounting period

Our current assets are made up of stock, goodwill and work-in-progress.

Abbreviation WIP (NOTE: The US term is work in process.)

‘…the control of materials from purchased parts through work in progress to finished goods provides manufacturers with an opportunity to reduce the amount of money tied up in materials’ [Duns Business Month]

workload / w% kləυd/ noun the amount of work which a person has to do He has difficulty in coping with his heavy workload.

work out / w% k aυt/ verb to calculate He worked out the costs on the back of an envelope. He worked out the discount at 15%. She worked out the discount on her calculator.

work permit / w% k p% m t/ noun an official document which allows someone who is not a citizen to work in a country

works /w% ks/ noun a factory There is a small engineering works in the same street as our office. The steel works is expanding. (NOTE: takes a singular or

plural verb)

works committee / w% ks kə m ti/, works council / w% ks kaυnsəl/ noun

a committee of employees and management which discusses the organisation of work in a factory

work-sharing / w% k ʃeər ŋ/ noun a system that allows two or more part-timers to share one job, each doing part of the work for part of the pay

works manager / w% ks m n d$ə/ noun a person in charge of a works

workspace / w% kspe s/ noun the memory or space available on a computer for temporary work

workstation / w% k ste ʃ(ə)n/ noun a desk with a computer terminal, printer, telephone, etc., at which an employee in an office works

world /w% ld/ noun 1. the Earth the world market for steel the possible sales of steel throughout the world 2. the people in a specific business or people with a special interest the world of big business the world of lawyers or the legal world

‘…the EU pays farmers 27 cents a pound for sugar and sells it on the world market for 5 cents’ [Duns Business Month]

‘…manufactures and services were the fastest growing sectors of world trade’ [Australian Financial Review]

World Bank /w% ld b ŋk/ noun a central bank, controlled by the United Nations, whose funds come from the member states of the UN and which lends money to member states

world rights /w% ld ra ts/ plural noun the right to sell the product anywhere in the world

World Trade Organization /w% ldtre d ɔ əna ze ʃ(ə)n/ noun an inter-

national organisation set up with the aim of reducing restrictions in trade between countries. Abbreviation WTO

worldwide / w% ldwa d/ adjective, adverb everywhere in the world The company has a worldwide network of distributors. Worldwide sales or Sales worldwide have topped two million units. This make of computer is available worldwide.

World Wide Web / w% ld wa dweb/ noun an information system on the Internet that allows documents to be linked to one another by hypertext links

and accommodates websites and makes them accessible. Also called web

worth /w% θ/ adjective having a value or a price Don’t get it repaired – it’s worth only £25. The car is worth £6,000 on the secondhand market. he is worth £10m he owns property, investments, etc., which would sell for £10m what are ten pounds worth in dollars? what is the equivalent of £10 in dollars? noun a value give me ten pounds’ worth of petrol give me as much petrol as £10 will buy

worthless / w% θləs/ adjective having no value The cheque is worthless if it is not signed.

wraparound mortgage

/ r pəraυnd mɔ d$/ noun US a type of second mortgage where the borrower pays interest only to the second lender (who then pays the interest payments on the first mortgage to the first lender)

wreck /rek/ noun 1. a ship which has sunk, which has been badly damaged and cannot float They saved the cargo from the wreck. Oil poured out of the wreck of the tanker. 2. the fact of collapsing, or a company which has collapsed He managed to save some of his investment from the wreck of the company. Investors lost thousands of pounds in the wreck of the investment trust. verb to damage something badly or to ruin it They are trying to salvage the wrecked tanker. The negotiations were wrecked by the unions.

writ /r t/, writ of summons / r t əvs mənz/ noun a legal document which begins an action in the High Court

The court issued a writ to prevent the trade union from going on strike. The company obtained a writ to prevent the trade union from going on strike. to serve someone with a writ, to serve a writ on someone to give someone a writ officially, so that he or she has to defend it

write down / ra t daυn/ verb to note an asset at a lower value than previously

written down value The car is written down in the company’s books.

writedown / ra tdaυn/ noun the act of noting of an asset at a lower value

‘…the holding company has seen its earnings suffer from big writedowns in conjunction with its $1 billion loan portfolio’ [Duns Business Month]

write-down allowance / ra t daυn ə laυəns/ noun an allowance for the de-

preciation of an asset over a period of years

write off / ra t ɒf/ verb to cancel a debt, or to remove an asset from the accounts as having no value We had to write off £20,000 in bad debts. two cars were written off after the accident the insurance company considered that both cars were a total loss the cargo was written off as a total loss the cargo was so badly damaged that the insurers said it had no value

‘$30 million from usual company borrowings will either be amortized or written off in one sum’ [Australian Financial Review]

write-off / ra t ɒf/ noun 1. the total loss or cancellation of a bad debt, or the removal of an asset’s value from a company’s accounts to allow for write-offs in the yearly accounts 2.

something which is so badly damaged that it cannot be repaired (informal)

The car was a write-off.

write out / ra t aυt/ verb to write something in full She wrote out the minutes of the meeting from her notes. to write out a cheque to write the words and figures on a cheque and then sign it

writer / ra tə/ noun a person who writes a cheque writer of an option person who sells an option

writing / ra t ŋ/ noun something which has been written to put the agreement in writing He had difficulty in reading the candidate’s writing.

written-down value / r t(ə)n daυnv lju / noun a value of an asset in a

company’s accounts after it has been written down

WTO abbreviation World Trade Organization

xa abbreviation ex-all

xc abbreviation ex-capitalisation xd abbreviation ex dividend

xr abbreviation ex-rights

Yankee bank / j ŋki b ŋk/ noun a foreign bank trading in the US

Yankee bond / j ŋki bɒnd/ noun a dollar bond issued in the American market by a non-US company. Compare

bulldog bond, samurai bond

year /j ə/ noun a period of twelve months

yearbook / j əbυk/ noun a reference book which is published each year with updated or new information

year end /j ə end/ noun the end of the financial year, when a company’s accounts are prepared The accounts department has started work on the year-end accounts.

yearling bond / j əl ŋ bɒnd/ noun a local authority bond which matures in 12 months

yearly / j əli/ adjective happening once a year We make a yearly payment of £1000. His yearly insurance premium has risen to £250. For the past few years he has had a yearly pay rise of 10%.

Yellow Book / jeləυ bυk/ noun a publication by the London Stock Exchange which gives details of the regulations covering the listing of companies on the exchange

yen /jen/ noun a unit of currency used in Japan (NOTE: It is usually written as ¥

before a figure: ¥2,700 (say two thousand seven hundred yen).)

yield /ji ld/ noun the money produced as a return on an investment, shown as a percentage of the money invested verb to produce an amount or percentage as interest or dividend, govern-

ment stocks which yield a small interestshares which yield 10%

‘…if you wish to cut your risks you should go for shares with yields higher than average’ [Investors Chronicle]

COMMENT: To work out the yield on an investment, take the gross dividend per annum, multiply it by 100 and divide by the price you paid for it (in pence): an investment paying a dividend of 20p per share and costing £3.00, is yielding 6.66%.

yield curve / ji ld k% v/ noun a graph showing the yields on different types of investment

yield to maturity / ji ld tə mə-

tjυər ti/ noun a calculation of the yield on a fixed-interest investment, assuming it is bought at a certain price and held to maturity

yuan /ju ɑ n/ noun a unit of currency used in China

ZDPS abbreviation zero dividend preference shares

zero / z ərəυ/ noun 1. nought, the number 0 The code for international calls is zero zero (00). 2. same as zero

dividend preference share

zero-coupon bond / z ərəυku pɒn bɒnd/ noun a bond which

a capital gain when it is redeemed at face value

zero dividend preference share

/ z ərəυ d v dend pref(ə)rəns ʃeəz/ noun a bond which pays no

price on similar gilts though the redemption price is not in fact guaranteed. Abbreviation ZDPS. Also called

zero

zero inflation / z ərəυ n fle ʃ(ə)n/ noun inflation at 0%

zero-rated / z ərəυ re t d/ adjective referring to an item which has a VAT rate of 0%

zero-rated bond / z ərəυ re t d bɒnd/ noun same as zero-coupon

bond

zero-rating / z ərəυ re t ŋ/ noun the rating of an item at 0% VAT

zinc /z ŋk/ noun a metal which is traded on commodity markets, such as the London Metal Exchange

ZIP code / z p kəυd/ noun US numbers in an address that indicate a postal delivery area (NOTE: The UK term is

postcode.)

zloty / zlɒti/ noun a unit of currency used in Poland

zone /zəυn/ noun an area of a town or country for administrative purposes verb to divide a town into different areas for planning and development purposes land zoned for light industrial use land where planning permission has been given to build small factories for light industry